Tuesday, November 4, 2008

I voted. Did you?

Election Day, November 1884

If I should need to name, O Western World, your powerfulest scene andshow,'Twould not be you, Niagara--nor you, ye limitless prairies—noryour huge rifts of canyons, Colorado,Nor you, Yosemite—nor Yellowstone, with all its spasmicgeyser-loops ascending to the skies, appearing and disappearing,Nor Oregon's white cones—nor Huron's belt of mighty lakes—norMississippi's stream:—This seething hemisphere's humanity, as now, I'd name—the stillsmall voice vibrating—America's choosing day,(The heart of it not in the chosen—the act itself the main, thequadriennial choosing,)The stretch of North and South arous'd—sea-board and inland—Texas to Maine—the Prairie States—Vermont, Virginia, California,The final ballot-shower from East to West—the paradox and conflict,The countless snow-flakes falling—(a swordless conflict,Yet more than all Rome's wars of old, or modern Napoleon's:) thepeaceful choice of all,Or good or ill humanity—welcoming the darker odds, the dross:—Foams and ferments the wine? it serves to purify—while the heartpants, life glows:These stormy gusts and winds waft precious ships,Swell'd Washington's, Jefferson's, Lincoln's sails.